December 22 [Botanic Gardens]
December 22
Me and Aquamarine had a rude awakening. The train just stopped really fast and it was a good thing that our bed was front to back, 'cause we might have fallen out otherwise.
It was still dark outside although we were probably near a town, 'cause there were some lights I could see through the trees by the tracks, and I faintly heard a crossing signal clanging although listening through the window I couldn't tell if it was in front of the train or behind it.
Neither of us was sure why we'd stopped, and the conductor wasn't announcing that we were at a station. Aquamarine said that maybe the locomotive had broken, but I thought if it had the train would have coasted to a stop, and then I thought that maybe one of the cars had come off the tracks, but she said it was really bumpy when that happened, 'cause the wheels bounced on the wooden crossties.
So we were both a little bit confused by it. And the train didn't get moving, either; it just stayed where it was and even with our muzzles pushed up to the window we couldn't see anything.
Well, then Aquamarine thought to open our door and look out the windows on the other side which I should have thought of myself. We didn't see anything out them, either.
We knew that you couldn't see anything looking forward, 'cause there were baggage cars in front of the coaches and then the locomotives, and you weren't allowed up there. But we could go to the back and see if there was anything behind us or maybe we'd see that one of the aft cars had come off the rails and maybe they were just so big that we couldn't feel it in front. So we went down to the other end of the train and we weren't the only ones who'd had that idea, 'cause there were lots of people that were in the aisles and looking around trying to figure out why the train had stopped so suddenly.
When we got to the last car, there was a little crowd of people around the window so we weren't going to be seeing anything that way. We did notice that all the cars were level and still in line, which meant that they were probably still on the tracks.
So we went back forward towards our room, and Mister Barrow was out in the hall standing by our room and he was kind of surprised to see us coming down the aisleway.
We asked him if he knew why the train stopped and he said that he didn't but he was making calls and he had been a little bit worried when he'd knocked on our door and we hadn't been in our room, so we told him that we'd been looking around the train and that we thought that all the cars in the back were on the tracks still.
Since we didn't think we were going to find out anything on our own, we went back to our room and it was a little bit early to be up but too late to go back to sleep, so Aquamarine folded the bed back up and we sat on the chairs and looked out the window but there wasn't anything to see out there.
Mister Barrow knocked on our door after about ten minutes and he said that they thought they might have hit a trespasser on the tracks but they weren't sure, and we couldn't go until they figured it out. And then we sat there until it had started to get light out and then the train blew its horn and I heard the air hissing as the brakes were released and it started to move again.
The train crept ahead kind of slowly for a little bit and then it accelerated hard enough to rock us in our seats a little bit, and I noticed that the engineer was blowing his horn a lot more. I guess he was trying to make sure that no more trespassers got in front of the train.
I got up and went to Mister Barrow's room and knocked on the door and Miss Parker answered 'cause he wasn't there and she said that he'd gone back to talk to the conductor some more but as far as she knew they hadn't found anyone who had been hit by the train, which was good, and when he came back he said the same thing. He said that the conductor had looked first and then the police had helped him look and they hadn't found anyone.
We were glad that nobody had gotten hurt by the train, even if they shouldn't have been on the tracks in the first place.
I was kind of familiar with our route, 'cause I'd taken this train before, and I told Aquamarine that we were going to see an airport with green Air Force airplanes and pretty soon we did. And that was where we needed to make sure that we were packed and ready to go, which didn't take us too long, and we went down to the vestibule to wait.
Neither one of us had taken a shower and we probably should have but we didn't know what time the train was going to arrive in Washington, and we hadn't wanted to be half-washed and then have to leave the train.
When we were at the train station, we put all our luggage in a locker and then ate our breakfast at Pret-A-Manger again, which still had cage-free eggs and fair trade coffee. And then we had to decide what we wanted to do for some of the day, 'cause we didn't have to be back at the station until the afternoon when the next train would take us back home.
We didn't decide right away, though, 'cause the train station had a really big Christmas tree in it that was really pretty, and they had a model train, too. There was a sign that said that it was a gift from Norway, which was really nice of them. Maybe Julenissen had brought it for them.
There was a lot to see in Washington, and it was hard to decide what to do. Aquamarine wanted to see the Botanic Gardens, and that sounded like fun to me, too, so we got on the mini-Marc and rode it to the National Mall, and we got out pretty close to the Capitol and had to walk the rest of the way.
She knew it before I even saw the signs, 'cause it had big glass domes so that the plants could get light while staying warm, and the domes were even tall enough for trees to be inside.
Their front gallery was really pretty, and it had little pools down the center and then plants everywhere and it was kind of strange to think that we were inside. The tops of the trees hung over the courtyard, so they mostly hid the roof and after a little while you didn't really notice that it was there, and besides there were lots of really interesting plants to look at and smell.
They had a big model train layout there, too, and there was a blue locomotive with a face on the front who was called Thomas and was famous, because he was on television. And they also had a river serpent train which was kind of funny, 'cause his head and neck was the locomotive, and then every car after that had an arch of his body until the very last one which had his tail. If you looked from a kind of low angle you couldn't see the train cars and it looked like he was swimming through all the plants.
We went into the jungle room next and it was kind of hot and humid in there, which was how the plants liked it and I would have liked it more if I didn't have my winter coat. Lots of people had taken off their jackets because of the heat.
There were railings to keep people from getting too close to the pants, but some of them were sticking through the railings trying to spread out, and there was one called a Ferocious Blue Cycad that we thought we should stay a little bit back from. We weren't sure why it was ferocious but thought it was best to be cautious. And there was another plant called a corpse flower and I didn't like that too much but Aquamarine was pretty fascinated with it. The sign said that it only bloomed every now and then and it had last bloomed in August, and when it did it smelled like a dead animal and that would attract bugs to pollinate it. Most flowers could do that by looking pretty and smelling nice but this one wanted to bring flies and other bugs that liked dead animals.
Miss Parker told us that there was a balcony overhead so we could get a top view of the jungle room and Aquamarine said that she wanted to see that, but then she got distracted by the doors that led to the medicinal plants and went that way instead of up.
Aquamarine looked at the medicinal plants and told me what they were all for. Not all of them were good for ponies but some of them were, and she was always looking for some human plant ponies didn't know about. Each one of the plants had a little sign next to it which said what it was called in English and also gave its fancy Latin name, and then said where it came from and what it could be used for.
There was a whole room full of orchids next to that and some of them were blooming and were very pretty. They were all different colors and some of them had spotty petals and it was kind of frustrating that a lot of them were too far back from the aisle to smell them properly. We weren't supposed to go off the path but I thought that maybe I could fly over to them and not touch the ground but Mister Barrow said that that was probably against the rules. He said that we were supposed to keep our hooves on the paths.
After that was a little room that had rare and endangered plants, and there were signs that explained where they were from and why they were at risk, and said what the curators of the museum were doing to preserve them so that people would have them in the future. I thought that was really smart of them, and so did Aquamarine. Plants are not only food for us, but they also give other animals food and places to live.
That led out to the main courtyard again, and we went across it to a room of primeval plants which were mostly different kinds of ferns, and they spit spores in the air to make more plants. I told Aquamarine that I had learned how to make a fractal fern, and if I had a good picture of one I might be able to figure out the formula for its leaf. She said that plants didn't grow by math, and I said that that wasn't what Professor Sir Doctor Banerjee had said.
Some of the plants in there were a lot like the ones that the dinosaurs might have seen, and maybe even eaten! If I'd known that before, I would have told Christine that when she was being a Tyrannosaurus Rex, she should eat ferns.
And that was right next to a room with plants from Hawaii, which were all different from other plants 'cause Hawaii was a volcanic island and so the first plants had to figure out how to grow in rock, and then they had evolved all on their own without being able to breed with other plants. Aquamarine said that was why islands were so interesting because a lot of them had plants growing on them that didn't grow anywhere else. She said that Madagascar was really famous because of that.
Then we went into a room that was a desert, and it had lots of funny cactuses. I didn't like them too much 'cause most of them had spines on them so you couldn't eat them, and Aquamarine said that was because they were smart and didn't want to be eaten. And she said that there were some kinds of animals that had figured out how to eat them anyways.
Once Aquamarine was satisfied that she'd seen all the plants from downstairs we went up to the catwalks and looked down on the jungle room. And Aquamarine really liked that; she said that it gave her a different perspective on the taller plants 'cause she was used to looking at them with her hooves on the ground and not from above.
I said that I thought you could tell a lot from how they looked from up above. We could fly over a pasture and see where the best, tenderest grasses were and land right there, instead of having to go through the field and find them that way, and sometimes miss them completely. That was really important when it was early or late in the season and food was hard to find, too. Although I guess Earth ponies have a good sense of that and can probably tell by feeling the ground and talking to the plants.
She said when she got back to Ponyville she was going to get Cherry Berry to take her up in her balloon and she could look over her family's farm from a pegasus' perspective.
By the time we were done looking around the botanic gardens, we were both pretty hungry, and all the plants that we weren't allowed to eat only made it worse. If Aquamarine hadn't been so fascinated by all of them I would have suggested that we get lunch earlier, but since we'd only had a little bit of time to look at it, I thought I could skip lunch.
We didn't have a lot of time to eat a late lunch before we went back to the train station, but Mister Barrow said that there was a bar that was close to the mini-Marc stop that he liked, and it was called Bullfeathers which was a really funny name.
I got a crab cake and Aquamarine got hummus, and we also both had Angry Orchard cider with our dinner. Aquamarine said that Sweet Apple Acres made the best cider, which was a lot better than this. She said that that was one thing she missed from Ponyville and her parents sent her a couple of bottles every year but this year she hadn't gotten any 'cause you couldn't send food or drinks back and forth. That was against the rules.
When we got to our train, it was a Superliner again, and we had a suite upstairs, which meant that Aquamarine's helpers got one room and we got the other and there was a door between them so we didn't have to go out in the hallway when we wanted to talk, which was nice. It was going to be helpful in the morning, too, 'cause we were going to have to get off the train really early: they wanted to get out in Toledo, and drive us back from there, because that was the most convenient stop.
As soon as we'd taken off our saddlebags, I wanted to go to the Viewliner to look around but Aquamarine reminded me that we weren't going to have time to shower tomorrow morning and if we didn't want to go to bed with wet coats, we ought to do it now, and she was right, so we both crowded into our tiny little shower and did the best that we could. I didn't like it very much because it was tiny for one pony and with both of us together we could barely move and I don't know how humans could use it at all. At least we didn't have to worry about getting knocked off our hooves when the train jolted, 'cause there wasn't enough room to fall down.
Mister Barrow came to our room to check on us and see when we wanted to eat dinner and since Aquamarine was closest to the bathroom door she pushed it open a little bit to talk to him and he was kind of embarrassed because I guess seeing somepony in a shower is embarrassing for humans.
We thought that since we'd just eaten a late lunch, we'd eat dinner late, too, and she told him about our plan to go to the Viewliner, and he said that he'd go there and save us some seats and we could just find him when we were done.
So once we were clean and partially dry, we went up to the Viewliner and he had kept seats for us like he'd said that he would.
He could have just kept one and we could have shared but I was glad that he'd saved two because that gave me enough room to stretch out my wings and preen them.
We were following along the river and I remembered from before that the train couldn't decide if it wanted to be in Virginia or Maryland and sometimes it would cross over the river and change states and then cross again and be back where it had started, so I told Aquamarine about that and she thought it was pretty funny, and before too long we were saying which state we were in each time we crossed the river.
I pointed out the railroad tie and telephone factory to Aquamarine as we passed by it, and she'd never seen anything like it. I'd only thought about how many craftsponies it would take to make the ties and poles, but she thought about how many it would take to cut down that many trees and then bring them all to the factory and that was something I hadn't even thought about.
We got out of the train in Cumberland, 'cause it had a long stop there, and that gave us a chance to stretch out our legs some. And when we got back on, we went right to the dining car and had our dinner.
Our seats in the Viewliner had been taken while we were eating dinner, so we went back to our room and watched as the train started to climb into the mountains from there. It was following along the river mostly, 'cause that was the easiest path, and it was really pretty. There was snow on the mountains which hadn't been there when I went through a few months ago.
We didn't get to admire it for too long, though, 'cause the sun had already been down when we'd finished dinner and it didn't take very long before it was dark and you couldn't see too much out the window except for the lights of houses and the small towns that we passed through every now and then. I think it would be nice if there was a train that stopped at night, so that people could see the scenery during the day. And that way, they could have more Viewliner cars instead of sleeping cars.
Since we had to get up early tomorrow and there wasn't anything to see, me and Aquamarine got the conductor to put our bed down for us so we'd have sheets and blankets tonight, then we told Mister Barrow to wake us up in the morning and he said that he would, and then we cuddled up in bed together.
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Not a biologist, right.
<Oh, Silver, never, ever change the way you are...)
Of course, theres always one entry they miss in the Botannical Gardens, the Motile Triffid, becaue everytime they point it out in one location, it moves to another.
Thats the problem with trains, got all that light on the inside, thats not only no good for lighting up the outside, but reflects back and makes it so you see even less. And then they put in double glazing to make sure you cant block out the reflected light. Its like they dont want you to look out the windows at all, after going to all that expense of putting huge expanses of weak, none loadbearing glass in. Alsmost like a zoo, or advertising display you might say.
At least noones even tried putting Poison Joke on Earth yet. then again, is there even a human classification for just how dangerous that stuff is and how to just store it securely, never mind research it? I just get this mental image of the stuff used for Project Boxcar being repurposed.
Heading home, so far, so good, the train lines reopened most of the way? Lets see what Mr Salvatore picks up for the road trip this time.. lets try for a high end Winnebago or even an Airstream?
It
This typo is a keeper. Seriously, don't fix it.
Nonesense! T-Rex eats fruits loops!
T-Rexes don't eat plants, silly Silver Glow.
Of course, in Equestria some plants are dangerous. I daresay the Humans in EQ didn't take Bunny Stampedes seriously -until they got caught in it.
You die that way, they won't let you into Heaven. St. Peter asks you "How did you die?" You say "Killed by a Rabbit Stampede" St. Peter "You go to Hell"
7974278 you misspelled Froot Loops :P
I believe that it should be "plants".
Earth's Poison Joke.
Speaking of Poison Joke....
It's Equestria's Red Kryptonite.
(Unpredictable effects, yet repeatable as shown by Fluttershy.)
Humans would examine the pollen to see how it stores magic.
(And wacky mayhem would result.)
_ = be
I wonder, after silver's year on earth, there should be a sequel following a human spending a year on Equestria. Perhaps one of Silver's friends to tie the stories together.
Yeah, but she's kinda a grouch.
She also suffers from a distinct case of cheesy tail.
If only the good Admiral had a story about Cherry Berry and her balloon.
Or two.
Everything is math.
Does the U.S. Botanic Garden have a ficus religiosa? Because that would be awesome.
18165-presscdn-0-1-81385.laedukreationpvt.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/myths6.jpg
7974265
Zombie goasts leave this place!
7975043
I know who I'd like it to be.
Unfortunately that happened the last time I was taking Amtrak. We were stopped for about three hours until the police investigation was done and the train was cleaned off. We weren't allowed out of the train because of all that was going on so we were just stuck. Once we got to the next station they swapped out the engineer crew so they could... well deal with what had happened. Turns out even if it was an accident, that sort of thing is really damaging to the crew.
7983874
Turns out that being right there and in control of the thing that killed someone is really damaging, even if it would have been physically impossible for you to prevent it. It also turns out that going into the field more or less guarantees that you're going to get a front row seat to this sort of thing--if you're only involved in a single fatality in your career, you're either lucky or quit after it happened.
a good thing
bed back up
plants
it was best
its
7974248
Silver Glow does have some gaps in her knowledge.
7974255
I'd never trust a plant that moves around. Who knows what it might get up to.
One nice thing about having your own room on the long-haul Amtrak trains is that you can turn down your lights and thus have a good view. And I believe that they dim the cabin lights at night, as well, although it's been a really long time since I took an overnight Amtrak train.
Probably the CDC or a similar agency could manage to safely research with it. I'd guess that poison joke is an inhalation hazard, although it might be skin contact (I suspect that when they were standing in it, they were moving their hooves and releasing spores).
7974258
Correction made; thank you!
7974265
Alright, I'll leave it, just because it would make Ruth happy.
7974278
7974292
Silver Glow isn't much of a paleontologist.
7974437
Yes, they are. Much more so than on Earth, so who knows what a Ferocious Blue Cycad might do?
I can imagine that there are a lot of things in Equestria that are very dangerous and which know-it-all humans have no idea to avoid.
Probably being killed by a bunny stampede isn't the worst way to go, but it's got to be on the top-ten list.
7974476
Silver Glow was remarkably inconsistent in the spelling, too. I think she normally spelled it 'Fruit Loops."
7974609
Yes, but at the advice of another reader and in honor of Ruth's pants obsession, I'm leaving that one as it is.
7974826
One of many, many things that Earth scientists desperately want to get their hands on. A cockatrice would also be a game-changer for humans, especially if the un-stoning process hasn't got any time constraints on it. Forget about cryogenics when you can just stone someone and then un-stone them later.
7974908
Correction made; thank you!
7975043
That's not outside of the realm of possibility, although it certainly wouldn't be a year-long journal published every day.
7975347
She's only grouchy because Twilight keeps taking her balloon. And because Comet Tail isn't very good at keeping dinner dates.
pre05.deviantart.net/4d26/th/pre/f/2012/323/b/2/cherry_berry_chided_by_fineartobserver-d5lhwwc.png
7975524
7975678
I know, right?
7976682
Silly Gandalf, trying to stop a train.
Does the U.S. Botanic Garden have a ficus religiosa? Because that would be awesome.
That's a good question--I don't know. Finding a list of what plants they had was harder than I thought it would be. Maybe I just didn't find the right website.
7978684
Meghan, I'm betting.
7983874
Yeah, that really sucks, and it happens far too often, either by mistake or on purpose. And of course there's nothing they can do on the train; they generally don't even try to brake until after they hit the trespasser, otherwise they'd be emergency braking two or three times per trip, or maybe even more. All they can do is honk the horn and hope for the best.
7983978
Yeah, either a trespasser on foot or a car at a grade crossing . . . if you're lucky, they survive, but most of the time they don't. And you're completely helpless to prevent it. There's an in-cab view of the Amtrak train that hit a Ford that jumped the gates in Michigan, and killed all five in the car. After the train stopped, the conductor had to get down and look, and I can only imagine how that must have felt. Nothing they could have done, of course, but that doesn't make it any better.
7986263
pants is staying uncorrected, in honor of Ruth and her pants obsession. All other corrections here and previously have been made; thank you so much.
8035180
7983874
7983978
I cannot even imagine. My sister-in-law used to drive city buses until someone decided to commit suicide by stepping in front of her bus as she drove by. It took her a long time to get behind the wheel of ANY vehicle after that. It still troubles her to this day.
8039962
I was twitchy for a couple of years after a bad accident where I wasn't at fault (or driving, either), and nobody was killed in that one. And I had some really close calls when I was driving wrecker, mostly caused by idiots . . . I don't know how she could ever really get over that, even though there was nothing that she could have done to prevent it.
Only jackets, Keep your pants on :)
8363345
I've decided to leave that particular typo, in honor of Ruth and her pants obsession.
"Humans are always saying 'stop and smell the flowers!' So I did!"
"Miss Glow, that's not the-"
"It's too hard to smell them from way over here! And I didn't even land, so I didn't mess up any of them!"
"Yes. And now there's Orchid pollen on everything..."
Sorry, Silver, but I've got to side with Aquamarine on this one. We can use math to express patterns of plant growth, but plants don't grow "by math." Don't put the cart before the pony, y'know.
Lewd...
Cayenne's going to sorry that she missed this.
8548618
You can bet that a pony flower sniffing zoo would have all the flowers close enough that you could properly stop and smell them.
You say that, but do you really know that? Flowers might perform complex calculations before deciding how many petals they ought to have.
I know, right?
And now I wonder . . . since stuffing as many people as you can into a Mini Cooper is a thing, has anybody ever tried to see if you can have a proper orgy in one?
8549483
"Mom! I'm going to Equestria! Yes, 'right now!'"
8549874
You know what I meant.
There were railings to keep people from getting too close to the plants
8725553
I decided to leave 'pants,' 'cause it's funny.
8927997
"Pants" is actually a deliberate typo.
It wasn't at first, but it was just so funny that I decided I was going to leave it.
8035158
I know a fic where that exact thing was used. If a pony became so severely injured they were going to die unless they got to a hospital immediately, just stone them with a cockatrice till you could get them there. Though it wasn't a regular thing, but rather something Twilight came up with, since there were a number of plotlines it played into. First, Twilight becoming a sky-pirate, second her starting to get a wee bit obsessively paranoid about any of the other mane 6 dying (hence the extreme measures to save a pony). Third, the above two combining into Twilight, maybe, kind of, sort of, nearly fucking up the entire planet when things go bad.
"How did you die?"
"I'm not sure, last thing I know is there was this grey pegasus in a mailmare outfit flying overhead. I look around, and everypony was ducking and covering under whatever they could find, next thing I know I hear an 'oops' and I'm here."
Of all the things that make scientist just want to beat their skulls in with a microscope, poison joke has to be in the top five. So many things in Equestria to test and try to make some sense of.
Smart pones being all smart and analyzing what's gone wrong, and why the ideas don't work with what they've experienced. They may be magical talking equines, but they are RATIONALE magical talking equines Celestia damnit.
Curious pones gotta go investigate, it's the feline in them. And they give vital, important data to helper. All cars behind us accounted for!
ouch..... this is why you don't mess around on train tracks Silver....
But d'awwww sweet ponies no want even silly humans getting hurt, they just want to take care of us.
Pegasus is good at noticing landmarks and knowing where they are and where they are going. It's one of the more subtle touches the story really does so well, it's simply so normal for her to be doing that while traveling, she does it and mentions doing it without thinking about it. Always making sure to record the route they took.
And of course the plant pony wants to go see plants.
Not sure if pony sniffer would make that place better, or just be overpowering.
And another pop-culture fail for the ponies. Granted, Thomas the Tank Engine is just creepy...
Having to deal variable temperatures between inside and outside during the winter without being able to take off the winter coat. #ponyproblems.
Ponies are very used to A. things being named as literally as possible. B It being perfectly normal for plants to be able to bite you.
Stupid flower, smelling all bad, smell good like other flowers, it works fine for them!
So many plants, so little time. But, going to see the make you feel better plants is good choice.
Humans, fix this poor set up, ponies need to be able to sniff all the plants!
This male human servant is no fun, not like her male human servant. Telling her not to loophole abuse the hell out of being able to fly.
Hey, Silver, thanks for letting me use this one again. ahem...
NNNNNNEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everything is math if you break it down far enough.
imgs.xkcd.com/comics/purity.png
Silver, not those types of dinos. You know what a meat eater looks like.
So cute and right, island evolution is awesome.
Stupid cactuseseseses, stop being so spiky so pony can nom you!
Getting an overhead view of the best place to nom, #pegaperks.
All those plants they can't nom are just teasing the hungry pones!
Yeah, SAA is the best cider. AJ could make a bucking fortune if she could ship it to Earth.
Practical pony, no use showering when it just means wet coats in bet and you can do it in the morning just fine.
Silver, never stop being so bright and happy and always seeing the best. Small, cramped shower? Less room to get bounced around in as the train moves.
Silly humans, being all flustered just because pony is in the shower and talking to you through an open door.
Such easy to please overlord, one seat is fine, ponies can snuggle up. But two is better, more wing stretching room.
Well, not a lot of sights to see most times, also, trains stopping just for the view would screw up SOOOO many timetables.
9444669
See, I think that’s a logical way to deal with severe injuries, at least if you’ve got a cockatrice handy. Probably taking the time to find one would make it a pointless gesture.
I’ve also often wondered if all the pony statues are cockatrice victims that they don’t know how to un-stone, or if they’re ponies who willingly wanted to be stoned. Didn’t Rockhoof ask for that in one episode?
The risks of travelling in Equestria.
Oh, hell yes. And on top of that, working on principles humans haven’t really gotten a grasp of yet. Not to mention that it has different effects on different ponies, which makes it even more complicated to study.
Probably one of the real signs of higher intelligence--problem-solving discussions. “We know the train shouldn’t have stopped, and we have a couple of theories about why it might have, so let’s investigate them and see if we can prove either of them to be correct, or discover the actual reason.
Silver’s probably had it drilled into her to observe and report, and to give short, concise statements about what they know. In part from her weather patrolling duties on Earth, and also more importantly from all her weather work in Equestria. In times of potential emergency, you report what you know to the top pony as soon as you discover it, and let her make the choice how to proceed.
Yeah, for as big as they are, trains are surprisingly sneaky.
Even if getting squished by a train is a natural consequence of playing on the railroad tracks--especially at night--that’s still a fate they wouldn’t wish on anypony.
She’d tend to instinctively look out for them and memorize them so that she could find her way back. And now I’m imagining her somehow missing her train, and flying back all the way from Florida, just following the railroad route, swooping low every now and then to read signs and make sure she’s on the right course.
Of course she does!
I have to figure that their brains can sort of sort it all out, like we do with noise and visual information. Focus on the important stuff and let all the rest kind of be in the background.
Yeah, but lots of kids love him. I think if I’d seen the show much as a kid, I would have liked him.
Having a nice fur coat gives all sorts of advantages, but there are also significant disadvantages to it.
Yeah, I have a feeling that botany in Equestria is very different than on Earth. And yes, having plants that are capable of biting or grabbing ponies would likely be something that they were both aware of.
I dunno, honestly if bee populations keep declining, the flower might have a big advantage with attracting flies. They’re practically impossible to get rid of.
Aquamarine could spend days in there, but is smart enough to know that she hasn’t got the time, so she’ll focus on what she’s most interested in.
I bet if they’d planned further ahead, they could have had a guided tour. With plant-sniffing included.
Mr. Salvatore would be encouraging her to creatively break the rules, it’s true.
That’s very true.
But does she know that T-Rex is a meat-eater? And the thought of her offering a fern to Christine is pretty funny.
Awesome and terrifying, in the case of Australia.
I know, right? They ought to be honored to be eaten by a pony.
It would be a huge advantage for them, although it would also lead them to be the last ponies to want to develop some kind of agriculture. Just fly where there is good food.
It’s like being at an all-you-can-eat buffet but not being allowed to actually eat any of it.
She could. Probably export regulations prevent that, though. And who knows, it might be somewhat toxic to humans.
There’s an old process called ‘jacking’ (which is where AJ gets her name from) where you freeze distill. The only problem with that is it doesn’t take the methanol out like heat distillation does. I don’t know if methanol is toxic to horses--I’ve never been able to find out for sure--so it’s possible that they make hard liquors that are fine for them, but fatal to humans who drink them.
That’s certainly a pony problem. Don’t bathe right before bed if it can be avoided.
That’s an advantage to a small shower room.
Weird human morals. It’s not like Silver and Aquamarine are any more naked in the shower than they are outside of it.
Ponies are always willing to crowd so that everybody gets seats.
I beg to differ, there are always interesting sights out a train window. But you’re right, you can’t have the train just stop whenever so people (and ponies) can get a better view of the scenery. I suppose that’s one advantage to road trips.
Human: How good is Equestrian cider compared to human made?
Aquamarine: You know how candy and soda taste great?
H: Yeah?
A: And Diet candy and soda taste like disappointment and sorrow?
H: ...
A: ...
H: ...
A: Okay, you know how Europe has real beer?
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I feel like ponies would generally prefer small-batch, handmade, personalized foods, since that's what they're used to. And better quality ingredients.
Well, and then there's Taco Bell. . . .
You're forcing him to think about the fact that you aren't wearing any clothes. Just silly humans and their nudity taboos again.
Supply lines are a big-picture deal. Ponies like Celestia put in a lot of work so that ponies like Silver Glow don't have to think about that sort of thing.
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It's the kind of thing that ponies have real trouble figuring out.
Yeah--she probably put in some of the big picture stuff (railroads, harbors, canals (if they have them), roads, etc. And then a lot of the other logistics might be figured out by the ponies involved, whether it be the mail service or somepony getting food up to Las Pegasus.